Mike's classroom!

Sign outside the door

Famous authors photos with a quote

Close up :)

Mr. Knapp and his desk

Dueling Cultures

Just as I was starting to think that maybe I was beginning to chip away at understanding Vietnamese culture, I get thrown for a loop and school starts. And we’re teaching an almost exclusively Korean population. I thought it’d be hard enough to understand the intricacies of one culture, but now I’m faced with a daunting task - tying to reconcile with these two totally different cultures simultaneously…

For instance, I’m beginning to learn very fast that Koreans and Vietnamese have different learning styles and expectations from their teachers. Not only that, but the Vietnamese are vastly outnumbered in our school, making them feel like outsiders in their own country. And don’t even mention our Iranian student - she is a fish out of water through and through - nobody (aside from her parents) speaks her native language, whether it be in or out of school.

But so far, I’ve found my students to be pretty fun. The smaller classes can be a little… intense sometimes. Especially my tenth grade class, which is totally packed to the gills with one student. Yep, ONE STUDENT. By the end of class, he is ready to go find a corner to crawl into! Poor guy. Overall my first week has been a positive one - I’m already starting to feel like a teacher, although I know that I have so much more to learn. The week has left Sara and I totally drained and in dire need of a respite, that we plan to find tomorrow in the form of the Daewoo Hotel’s grand lunch buffet spread…

Until next time,
Mike

Sara's Classroom -- SO FAR!

Getting things all set up!

 There has been a lot of frustration regarding setting up our classrooms, but I feel a bit better now that I have an okay organization (I nabbed a few wooden tables from the unused room next door!) and was given a bunch of decorations by a teacher who ended up leaving.I have my desk at an angle in the far corner away from the door. I doubt I will be sitting there much during the day, so I wanted it out of the way.

The view of the classroom from my desk area

 You can see the three wooden desks I will use for centers/small group activities. I have only 4 students right now, so there are 5 desks set up facing the white board. I am excited to keep decorating, and FINGERS CROSSED -- we should have all out books/rest of the furniture by tomorrow or wednesday.

One of the first things that I set up. Right on my desk is my photo of my little friend Will :)